Someone Cares About You
by AresWarrior32
Summary: After suffering years of abuse from his first owner, Vognez, a young troll, is able to escape from his personal hell. However, he is barely surviving on the streets, and he'll need food and shelter soon if he wants to survive. That's where Joey comes in. (PS yes this is petstuck) ((PS PS sorry I posted the same chapter twice , it was being difficult. There are three chapters))
1. Chapter 1

Vognez, a purpleblood troll, was adopted at a young age by a rich buyer looking for an expensive pet. He had gotten a chance to meet the man who would become his owner once before his adoption, and he had seemed like he would be a nice owner who would treat him kindly. However, when he arrived at his new home, his owner gave him his first beating to show him how things were going to work in this house. He gave him rules that he would have to follow effective immediately.

Vognez would not be allowed to speak for any reason, and any speaking equated to a beating. Despite the warning, he would practice speaking when his owner wasn't home or when he thought his owner wasn't listening. He loved language, and wanted the chance to learn to speak like he heard on the TV. He got away with it for a while, but when he was caught, his owner hit and kicked him until he was afraid to speak another word.

Begging for food was another no-no, which made things complicated when his owner repeatedly forgot to feed him. Hunger became a constant state for Vognez; he never really knew what it was like to be full. Once, his owner forgot to feed him for four days. He became so desperate for food that he tried eating out of the garbage to sustain himself. His owner heard the noise coming from the kitchen, and caught him in the act. Needless to say, his owner was not pleased. Vognez never ate out of the garbage again. It didn't matter how hungry he was; he wasn't risking another beating like that.

When his owner left for the day, or when it was time for bed, he would be locked in a cramped cage that only seemed to get smaller as he grew. He didn't have a say in the matter, and the longer he delayed going in his cage, the worse it would be for him. Things seemed like they couldn't get any worse, and for a long time they didn't. It wasn't until his owner came home drunk one night.

He pulled Vognez out of his cage violently. Vognez didn't know what was happening until he was being kicked repeatedly. He fell to the ground as his owner kept kicking him. He cried and plead for his owner to stop, but he was too drunk to understand him. He kept kicking and hitting him, believing that he needed to be taught a lesson, when in actuality he had done nothing wrong.

After his owner was finished, he passed out on the couch, leaving Vognez cowering in the corner, crying, bruised, and broken. He noticed a cold winter breeze hitting him; the door had been left open in his owner's haste. If he wanted to leave, this was his chance. He wouldn't get another one. He stood up, ignoring the pain all over his body, and left the house. He didn't know if he was ready to face whatever was out there, but he couldn't stay.

A week on the street with no food left Vognez starving and weak. He had been used to not getting meals, but he'd never gone this long without food. He was also suffering from the cold, but luckily he had a cold enough blood color that he hadn't gotten frostbite yet. This wouldn't last forever, though. If he wanted to survive, he'd need food and warmth soon. He sat on the edge of the sidewalk and held his stomach. He sat shivering until he saw a shadow pass by.

* * *

"You should get a pet, Joey. I'm sure you'd be a nice owner."

"You tell me this all the time, Gail. And I always tell you, I'll get one when I'm ready."

"You're just delaying the inevitable." She smiled at him.

"You really want me to get a pet, don't you?"

"Yes! I'll even help you pick one out; I have friends at the shelter who'll help us."

"I'll think about it. Listen, I gotta go. I'll see you later." He kissed her goodbye, and left the cafe, wrapping his scarf around his neck.

Gail had been pressuring Joey to get a pet after hearing about an increase in strays that were being abandoned during the winter. He wanted to get one, but he kept putting it off. He figured he'd do it sooner or later, and he wasn't very worried about it. He was walking down the street when he spotted a tiny figure sitting on the edge of the sidewalk. He thought it was a little kid at first, but then he saw the horns protruding from its head. A troll. He'd seen pictures of them on tv, but this was the first he'd seen in real life. He passed by it, thinking about why a troll would be on the sidewalk on its own. He stopped and wondered if it had been abandoned like the other pets, and how long it had been out in the cold. He had heard they could talk, so he decided to ask it.

"Hey? You okay buddy?" He said quietly, slowly approaching it. It looked over at him for a second, and then buried its face in its shirt. "No, it's okay, don't be scared... What's your name?" It didn't respond.

He got a better look at the troll, and saw it had many bruises all over its body and dried blood on its face. Purple blood. _Jeez, it's one of the expensive ones. I can't believe somebody threw it out._ "Do you have a home little guy?" It shook its head no.

He thought for a second. "Well... You can't stay out here; you won't last very long in the cold. Do you want to come home with me?" It looked up at him, still not speaking, and he noticed it was shivering. He took off his scarf. "Do you want this?" It slowly nodded. He wrapped the scarf around him, noticing it was huge on him, but figuring that it would keep him warmer that way.

Joey wasn't sure if it was able to walk, so he started to reach towards it to pick it up. He stopped when he saw it flinch. "Oh, I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm gonna pick you up; is that okay?" It tried to stand on its own, but fell back down. It looked at him and nodded, knowing it didn't have any other option. He picked it up and let it get comfortable in his arms, trying to hold it carefully to not hurt it. It quickly fell asleep, exhausted from everything it went through, and he carried it back to his house.


	2. Chapter 2

Joey set the troll down on his couch and got out his cell phone. He punched in Gail's number and paced while waiting for her to answer.

After a few rings, she answered her phone. "Oh! Hey Joey!"

"Hey Gail… Um… I have a problem… A big one." He said, looking at the troll.

"I'm sure it's not that bad. What is it?"

"I have this troll at my house-"

She cut him off. "Oh, you got a pet in the end! That's great! Was it one of the strays from the shelter?"

"It was a stray but…" He trailed off.

"But?"

"I found him on the streets. He was all beaten up and it was too cold to leave him out there. I didn't know what else to do."

"Well, you've gotta take it to the shelter to get help. Oh, and by the way, is it a boy or a girl?"

"I think it's a boy, but does that really matter?"

"I was just curious. Now go down to the shelter, I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Okay. See you there." He hung up the phone. He looked back at the troll who was now sitting up and watching him.

"Wh-who's that?" it asked quietly.

"What's that?" Joey could barely make out what it was saying.

"Wh-who were you t-talking to?" it clarified, a little louder..

 _Huh. It can speak._ "It was my friend, Gail."

"F-friend?" it asked. Had it never heard of friendship?

"Yeah, she cares about me and I care about her...' He thought for a second, trying to figure out what to ask it now that it was speaking. "Do you have a name?"

"V-Vognez… What y-yours?" Every time it spoke it looked like it was preparing for something to happen to it, but nothing came.

"I'm Joseph, but you can call me Joey…" Another pause. "Where's your owner, Vognez?

It looked down as tears started to stream down its face. "Hey- it's okay- don't cry- oh jeez…" He walked over to it and sat next to it, racking his head for an idea to calm it down. He thought he'd heard somewhere that a good way to relax a troll to rub its horns, so he thought it was worth a try. He reached over and started to rub its cone shaped horns, and it froze. After a few seconds of rubbing, it calmed down and began purring.

"That feel good?" he asked. It nodded in response. "I'll keep that in mind…" He looked over the troll a little more carefully, trying to assess its injuries. He was no expert, but he knew that he needed medical attention.

"Hey, I want to take you to see a doctor. Is that okay? They'll help you with your bruises."

It thought for a second before responding. "W-will they hurt me?"

"No, they only want to help. At most, they might have to give you a shot, but those only hurt a tiny bit and they protect you from getting sick."

"...O-okay."

"I'm gonna have to pick you up, okay?" It nodded, and he carefully and slowly lifted it up. He held it carefully in his arms, and continued rubbing its horns as he left his house to walk down to the shelter.

Multiple people gave him weird looks as he walked with the troll, seeing as they were pretty rare to come across. A few people walked by making comments about how that 'thing' should be put on a leash before it hurt someone. He kept walking without acknowledging them.

Gail was waiting outside of the shelter, looking at her phone. She looked up right as Joey approached with Vognez. "Hey! There you are; I've been waiting for you guys!" Vognez started to cower at the sound of her yelling.

"Hey, Vognez, it's okay. She's my friend." He looked up at Gail as he walked up to her. "I wouldn't yell around it; it gets scared pretty easily."

"HE gets scared easily," she corrected him. "He's not an 'it,' Joey."

"Sorry."

Vognez looked over at Gail curiously. "Y-your name is G-Gail, r-right?"

"Yep, that's me. What's your name?" she asked in response, amazed that it could speak.

"V-Vognez," he replied quietly.

"Aw, how cute!" She kept her voice level low but used the same amount of excitement as always. "Let's get you inside to see the doctors, okay?"

"O-okay."

Joey carried Vognez in after Gail opened the door for them, and Gail followed right behind. Gail went ahead of them to the desk to talk to the person behind.

The waiting room was pretty simple: there were a few chairs to sit at, one of which Joey immediately sat in, a few stereotypical motivational cat posters, including the all-famous "Hang in there" poster, and the sounds of barking dogs and meowing cats were audible. Joey wasn't sure if they had any trolls or had ever dealt with a troll before, but he didn't have much hope otherwise. He looked over to see a vet walking towards him, along with Gail.

Gail introduced her. "Joey, this is Mary. My friend I was telling you about. She happens to be the huldraetician here too! That means troll doctor by the way."

"A pleasure to meet you, Joseph. Abigail has told me much about you." She spoke formally, but with a friendly tone and a smile. "Is this the troll?" She pointed at Vognez.

Joey answered. "Yeah. I found him out on the streets. He was all alone."

She looked at the troll. "Why were you out on the streets young man?"

Vognez looked down sadly. "I don't think he's ready to talk about it…" Joey rubbed his horns a little to calm him back down.

"Well… Alright. I'll take him to the back so I can examine his injuries and treat them to the best of my abilities." Mary reached out for Vognez. He looked towards Joey.

"It's okay, Vognez. I'll be here when you get back. I pinky promise." He held out his pinky.

Vognez looked confused at first, but he quickly figured out he was supposed to interlock his pinky with Joey's. He finished off the pinky promise, and Mary took him out of Joey's arms. She carried him into the back room, and Joey and Gail were left to wait.


	3. Chapter 3

The waiting was the worst part. Joey couldn't help but feel anxious about what could be going on with Vognez. He'd only just found the troll but he couldn't help but worry about his safety. He tried fooling around with the scarf Vognez had been wrapped in, but it didn't distract him enough. He must have been looking pretty worried, seeing as Gail laid a hand on his back and started rubbing circles to calm him.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm sure he'll be fine," she said soothingly.

"I dunno. He couldn't walk, and he was out in the cold for a really long time, and-" Gail cut him off with shooshes. He went back to worrying silently while Gail continued to calm him.

After what seemed like an eternity to Joey, Mary came out and motioned for them to come with her. She led them down a hallway and then opened a door slowly. "Vognez? It's us." Joey walked in behind Mary and Gail followed him. Vognez's eyes stayed on Joey. Vognez had multiple bandages all over his body, and a small band-aid on his arm.

"Y-you didn't leave," Vognez said, surprised. Joey went over and began to lightly rub his horns. Purring ensued.

"I pinky promised. You can't break something like that." Joey explained.

Mary started to list of her findings. "He has a few cracked ribs, luckily nothing is broken. He'll need to rest that off; theres not much I can do for it other than give him some pills for the pain. He also has a few bad bruises and there were a few small cuts that I disinfected. He's also showing signs of malnutrition, so you'll need to make sure he eats a good diet, which I assume you can make sure of." She pulled Joey close and spoke quietly. "He's pretty beaten up... He's very fortunate to be as high as he is on the hemospectrum; I'm not sure a troll with blood lower than he has would have been able to survive everything he's been through."

Joey didn't know how to respond. Who could've done this to poor little Vognez? After some thought, he asked, "Can you tell if this was done by an animal or a human?"

"No animal could've inflicted those wounds, so it had to have been inflicted by a human." That's what he was afraid of hearing. "Although, anyone who would do something like this to a troll might as well be considered an animal."

"I can definitely agree with you on that." It was decided. He wasn't going to let anything else happen to Vognez, meaning that his old owner could go to hell. "Is there any way for me to adopt him?" Vognez looked up at Joey when he heard the word 'adopt.' "I want to make sure he never ends up in the hands of whoever did this to him again."

"Y-you want me?" Vognez asked quietly.

"Well, yeah. I want to make sure you're safe." Vognez just looked at him in amazement.

"I don't know if we can really give ownership to you without meeting the original owner and getting it from him," Mary answered. "I'm not even sure you're allowed to keep him-" Purple tears welled up in Vognez's eyes. Joey noticed and instinctively moved closer Vognez.

"Well are there any rules that say he can't?" Gail asked.

"I'll need to check, but I wouldn't get your hopes up." Mary left the room, and Vognez let out a sad sigh.

Joey lightly put a hand on Vognez's shoulder. "Don't worry. If I need to, I'll go and talk to your old owner myself."

"I d-don't wanna go b-back to him…" Vognez said.

"You don't have to. You can stay with Gail while I sort stuff out. We'll need to find him though…"

"I… I know the a-address." Vognez told Joey the address as he wrote it in his phone. It wasn't too far away. Mary came back in.

"So it turns out that you are allowed to hold onto him, but you can't have ownership of him until you get it from his owner, who we know nothing about," Mary said calmly with a hint of frustration.

"Vognez told me his address," Joey responded. "We could go right now if you're not busy."

"Oh, I would be happy to go right now. I think that piece of…" she caught herself, "that jerk needs to be taught a lesson."

Joey turned to Vognez. "Would you be cool with hanging out with Gail for a while?" He nodded. "Gail, can you give him something to eat and drink when you get back to your place? I'll pick him up after things are settled."

"Mhmm! I'll take good care of him!"

"Thank you." He kissed her and then gave the scarf to Vognez. "Keep yourself warm bud, okay?" He wrapped the scarf around himself and Gail picked him up.

"Alright. Let's go."

They took Mary's car to get to the owner's house, as it was too far to walk. It was a huge house; the guy was obviously pretty fortunate when it came to money. Mary grabbed a few papers and a clipboard.

"These are the papers that'll transfer ownership to you," she explained. Joey didn't question it as they walked up to the door. Mary rang the doorbell.

"I'm comin'! Jesus fuck!" The voice was slurred and angry. Eventually a man opened the door, his hair messy and he held a bottle in his hand. "Whadaya want?"

"Hello, my name is Dr. Mary Bennett from the animal shelter. I have a few questions regarding your pet, Vognez?"

"Oh, that little shit. I haven't seen him in uhhh... Two weeks? Maybe three? I dunno. He's not worth the effort." Joey had to hold himself back from punching the guy in the face right then.

"If you really feel that way, would you be willing to sign ownership over to my friend here?"

"Fuck yeah. Take 'im. I don't give a shit." Mary handed the clipboard and a pen to him and he signed in messy letters. He handed the clipboard back to Mary.

"Okay, now Joey, sign here and Vognez is yours." She held out the clipboard and pen. Joey took them, and signed his name. "Alright! Thank you for your time."

"No problem. Now get off my fuckin' property."

Mary and Joey quickly went back and got in the car.

"Congratulations Joey. You just saved a troll."


	4. Chapter 4

Mary drove Joey and herself back to the shelter. "I have to get back to work. I assume you can get to Gail's house safely?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he responded. "Thanks for all your help."

"It's always a pleasure to rescue animals from abusive homes." She smiled. He got out of the car and began the walk to Gail's house. His pace was fast from excitement. He was so focused on getting to Gail's house that he didn't see a figure appear in front of him. The two bumped into each other and the figure fell down.

"Oh, sorry!" Joey said as he came out of his trance. He looked down at the person and held out his hand, only to realize it was a small troll. The troll was wearing grey cargo pants, a grey shirt with a bowtie on it that was mustard colored, and a jacket that was half blue and half bright yellow. His horns were very rounded. He opened his eyes and he had one blue eye and one yellow.

"Oh, it's no problem," he laughed a little as he took Joey's hand. Joey helped him up.

"Um... Your eyes..." Joey said quietly.

"One hundred percent psionic," he explained. "I'm called Zamdri. Zamdri Zaizir." He held out his hand, which Joey shook. _Wow, he's got such good manners for a troll._

"Hey, is your owner nearby?"

"Never had an owner. I'm a stray; I've lived on the streets my whole life."

"Really?" Joey asked in shock. "You're so well mannered for a stray."

"Yeah. I enjoy making the point that being a stray doesn't have to mean being ill-mannered. By the way, do you have somewhere to be? You were walking quite fast and I don't wish to hold you up from wherever you need to be." A stupid thought went through Joey's head.

"Yeah, but... Would you want to come with me to get out of the cold for a while?"

Zamdri looked surprised. "R-really? Gosh. I mean, I appreciate the offer, but most people don't want to take in a troll off the streets."

"Well, you wouldn't be the first troll. I was actually going to pick up the troll I just adopted. He was a stray too but he did have an owner. Not a good owner, which is why he ended up on the streets, but he's safe from all that now. He's pretty young though. Maybe...six years old?"

"So nearly three sweeps then?" Oh yeah. Trolls had a weird way of measuring age. "Might be nice to meet the lil' wriggler... Sure. I'll come with you."

They walked together to Gail's house, and Joey explained more about what happened on the way.

"Gosh, that's a lot to happen to a wriggler…" Zamdri said.

"Yeah, but we got him away from all of that now; that's why we're going to Gail's." They arrived at the house, and wailing could be heard faintly from inside. Joey opened the door, and Gail was holding and rocking Vognez slowly, shooshing him. Vognez was crying loudly and holding onto Gail tightly.

"Hi!" Gail said with distress. "Joey, can you help me out? I think he'll calm down more with you!"

Joey walked over and took Vognez from her, and he clinged right onto him, but his crying didn't cease. He started rubbing his horns, but Vongez refused to stop crying. "Gail, what happened?"

"I don't know; Vognez was sleeping and then he started crying out of nowhere."

"I'm really sorry, Zamdri. Like I said, he's been through a lot and-" He stopped when he saw Zamdri making a large pile of blankets and pillows. Once he finished, he took Vognez from Joey and set him down in the pile. He rested next to him and began to cuddle with him. Joey was silent in confusion, but Vognez seemed to calm down almost instantly. "Um…"

"Hey, Vognez, everything's okay. You don't have to worry about anything. You've got a good owner now and he's gonna take care of you, okay?"

Vognez sniffled and said, "Okay..." He smiled a little, this being the first time Joey ever saw him smile.

Zamdri looked over at Joey, seeing his confusion. "It's just a technique that trolls use for calming purposes."

"Oh. Well, thanks."

"It's no problem." Zamdri booped Vognez's nose, and Vognez giggled a little bit.

Joey went over to Gail. "Did you get him to eat?"

"Yeah. He was kind of surprised when I brought him his food… He didn't believe it was for him at first."

"I'm not surprised. His owner was horrible."

"Oh! Speaking of the owner, did you get him to sign the papers?"

"Yeah. Vognez won't ever have to go back to that jerk."

"That's great! What about the yellowblood? Where did he come from?"

"I just kinda bumped into him. He said he's been out on the streets for a long time, and I told him he could stay with me for a while." Joey rubbed the back of his head a little as he spoke.

"Geez, if you keep taking in trolls at this rate, you're going to have a full house."

"I know. It's just…" He sighed. "You know?"

Gail nodded. They looked back over at Vognez and Zamdri, and saw Zamdri still cuddling Vognez, who was purring happily. "Don't worry about it; I'm just joking with you."

Joey shrugged and went over to Vognez and Zamdri. "So, howsabout we go back to my home now?"

"That sounds like a lovely idea." Joey had texted Vlad about bringing home Vognez and Zamdri already, and he was more than happy to take them in. Vlad was Joey's housemate and close friend, so it made sense to run things by him.

"By the way, I do share an apartment with someone. His name is Vlad. He's nicer than me, so you don't have to worry about him hurting you."

Zamdri stood first, helping Vognez up after. Vognez walked over to Joey and held his arms out to him, obviously wanting to be carried. "Okay, up we go!" Joey carefully lifted Vognez, being especially careful with his ribs. "I'll see you later, Gail. I'll message you to keep you updated on both of them."

"Thank you, I'll talk to you later!" Gail waved and opened the door for Joey, waiting for both him and Zamdri to make it outside before closing the door.


End file.
